Cataclysms of the Earth
By Hugh Auchincloss Brown

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-16199

 

Presentation
 

Even if you loved The HAB Theory, by Allan W. Eckert, these pages may still be tough reading. The fictional character Herbert Alan Boardman (HAB) and the theory in Eckert’s book, is based on Hugh Auchincloss Brown and the theory presented in this book.

Hugh Auchincloss Brown holds the "Doomday Toy," illustrating his theory of the shift in the earth’s axis,
which is precipitated by the interaction of a polar ice-cap with the force of gravity.


Allan W. Eckert told me that he wrote The HAB Theory, to use his novel as a vehicle to bring public awareness to the prospect of an impending catastrophe as envisioned by Brown.

Eckert also wanted to point out the scientific self-defeatism of intense specialization in various scientific fields, a point also made in this book by Brown.

Both Eckert and Brown have grave concerns that scientific tunnel vision, while good for one’s career, can also be rather dangerous. If an individual scientist’s specific field consumes all of his or her attention, he or she may not weigh it well enough in its relationship to other fields of scientific endeavor. They are concerned that very few scientists seem to grasp any larger pictures.

In a world crowded with crackpot ideas and theories; you might be tempted to stop reading the first time Brown’s statements conflict with your current understanding of Physics, Geology, Paleontology, or other physical sciences. Please don’t stop there, try to finish reading it, even if you have to skim. Say you don’t accept half of the ideas Brown presents, that leaves a big batch of serious questions that may continue to tantalize you .

Hugh Auchincloss Brown had a long and distinguished career as an engineer, inventor and businessman. He spent most of his life searching for scientific evidence that would prove this theory wrong. Everything he found reinforced it.

His writing style is from another time, and probably wasn’t all that good even then. He tends to write his opinions as statements of fact, rather than the more correct form of stating his conclusions as opinions. Perhaps you can forgive an old man those transgressions of writing style, by remembering that he did believe that everything he wrote was fact.

Hugh Auchincloss Brown was 91 when this book was published.